The Irish Times headline recently ran a headline, ‘Imposing French-style wealth tax would only yield €22m.

UCD sociologist Kieran Allen asked for a right to reply but received no response to his request. Here is his exposure of how journalism sometimes functions as propaganda.

The story is based on an ESRI Working Paper entitled ‘Scenarios and Distributional Implications of a Household Wealth Tax in Ireland’. The Irish Times lifts one or two figures from the paper but fails to give any context or critically examine the report. read full story / add a comment

For our last scheduled screening of 2016 we have two amazing films. The first "The Ghosts of Jeju" brings us to the island of Jeju in South Korea. The second "How they Brainwashed my Dad" tells of the effect of US "hate radio" on listeners, mainly of the white middle-aged variety.

Dublin man, Simon Scriver will go for gold in the World Championship of Public Speaking in Washington DC, on August, 18th to 20th. Simon is the current Ireland and UK champion which he won recently in Limerick with his speech “Nuggets of Gold”. This is the final round of a contest with entrants from 15,400 Clubs in 135 countries!read full story / add a comment

After the success of the reading of the Non Stop Connolly Show in Connolly Books, I will be in conversation with the Oscar winning director Jim Sheridan on the 28th of May in Smock Alley Theatre at 8pm. He was also one the directors of the Non Stop Connolly Show back in 1975 in Liberty Hall. read full story / add a comment

Over an evening and a day, musicians of the highest international calibre, many of them making return visits, come to Dundalk to perform five books of music, including contemporary classics and works specially created for this unique occasion. read full story / add a comment

Human Safety or State Security? The global migrant crisis from a Latin American perspective.
A series of events around Ireland focusing on Latin America. Talks, documentary screening, music...

LASC Latin America Week this year will focus on the migrant and humanitarian crisis in Europe and Central America/Mexico. Events around Ireland will highlight the links between similar realities in two different areas of the globe.
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A THIN WALL is a documentary about memory, history and the possibility of reconciliation. It focuses on the Partition of India in 1947, but derives lessons that remain urgently relevant today. Shot on both sides of the border, in India and Pakistan, A THIN WALL is a personal take on Partition rooted in stories passed down from one generation to another. read full story / add a comment

It has been one hundred years since the heroic Easter uprising of the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood) and the ICA (Irish Citizen Army) against the might of the British Empire in 1916. The planning of the 2016 commemoration was thrust into the hands of the conservative Fine Gael/Labour government who would have been at least a bit uneasy about the potential for increasing the political support base for the more politically radical Sinn Féin. However, the problem of artistic representation of the events was at least partially resolved by the well-worn techniques used by successive conservative Irish governments over the years since the Easter Rising: mythologisation, diversion and counternarrative. read full story / add a comment

Since 2008, during one of the worst financial crises to hit the state, government funding of the arts sector was significantly reduced as the overall Departmental budget has seen an increase. Department of the Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht reports show that central funding increased from 245,000,000 Euro in 2008 to 310,000,000 Euro in 2016. During this same period Arts Council reports show a fall in their funding from 81,620,000 Euro to 59,100,000 Euro. This has resulted in a fall in supports to the individual artist who the sector rely on to maintain Ireland as a place that is known for its living culture and the arts. read full story / add a comment